What Ariana Grande Eats on Her Vegan Diet: “I was raised on meat and cheese.”

Among the many celebrities that have played a role in inspiring us to go vegan, we have to say the uplifting words of Ariana Grande reverberate in our ears often.

Back in 2014, when The Mirror asked her why she went vegan, she said, “I love animals more than I love most people, not kidding. But I am a firm believer in eating a full plant-based, whole food diet that can expand your life length and make you an all-round happier person.”

What inspired Grande to go vegan

Grande's favorite type of cuisine

Though Ariana Grande is of Italian heritage, it doesn’t seem like she’s big on eating staples from the Mediterranean country’s culinary playbook. In The Mirror interview, Grande conceded that even though she’s very proud of her lineage, “...I don’t eat a lot of Italian things, because I’m vegan. I was raised on meat and cheese, so I’ve had enough for anyone’s normal life span.”

According to Grande’s trainer, Harley Pasternak, the pop star is all about Japanese eats. "Ariana Grande, she's vegan, and she loves daikon, lotus, adzuki beans—almost like a macrobiotic Japanese [diet]," Pasternak told Glamour in 2015. A macrobiotic diet also focuses on nutrient-dense whole grains like brown rice, barley, millet, and oats, as well as fresh vegetables, sea vegetables, and miso, a fermented soy paste. (Sign us up for this quick and easy vegan pho with creamy miso broth).

Though Pasternak doesn’t say whether or not Grande has a sweet tooth for macrobiotic desserts, we hear sweet potatoes and pumpkins—both go-to's in the macrobiotic realm—taste really, really good in pie form.

Grande loves fruit

Ariana Grande has never met a berry she didn’t like, it appears. Whether posting her blueberry haul on Instagram or tweeting that she’s eaten at least five strawberries a day since she can remember (“they’re my favorite food!”), it’s clear the star gets some of her sky-high energy and glowing skin from all the fruit she consumes.

And bring on the smoothies, of course.

"Ariana eats incredibly well and she always had a healthy diet. I think what I've gotten her to do now is to create a more balanced diet and feel OK about indulging and celebrating sometimes,” said Pasternak of Grande’s eating MO in a 2017 PopSugar article. She has widened the ingredients she puts into her diet. She makes a lot of my smoothies, so for the body-reset smoothies she'll make the white smoothie, red smoothie, and green smoothie,” notes Pasternak, referencing healthy smoothie recipes from his book The Body Reset Diet.

Here at The Beet, we can’t ever get enough tantalizing smoothie recipes. That’s why we deliver a healthy Smoothie of the Day recipe to you each day. Sign up here. Want to kick the day off with a smoothie right up Grande’s lane? Try this Berry-Fun and Refreshing Smoothie Everyone Will Love.

Grande stands up for veganism

In addition to talking to the media about how going vegan has helped her health and happiness, Grande also takes a stance when it comes to animal rights issues. This spring, she took to Twitter to disapprove of Tiger King’s Carle Baskin from appearing in her music video “Stuck with U,” a duet with Justin Bieber.

She shared her dismay of the clip and ensured it didn’t appear in the music video, publicly stating, "for the record, I did not allow or approve this clip to be in the actual video. but. nonetheless. it exists and that’s ..... unique.”

Named one of peta2’s sexiest vegetarian celebrities of 2014, we’re glad to see that Grande is still keeping her plant-based game strong a few years later. Here’s to many more happy and healthy years of strawberries, macrobiotic culinary delights, and of course, loving animals more than people (we’re joking here, kind of).